DENVER – One of the brightest parts of the Wild's impressive victory Thursday in Nashville was the fact that Erik Haula, in coach Mike Yeo's doghouse for much of the season, scored a goal, had an assist, had four shots, won four of six faceoffs and was solid on two penalty kills.
"I told him this morning that that's the closest to last year in the playoffs that we've seen him play," Yeo said before the Wild's 3-1 victory at Colorado on Saturday, in which Haula scored his team's first goal, added an assist and was a plus-2.
Yeo was so pleased with how Haula was buzzing every shift, he had assistant coach Darryl Sydor watch each one of Haula's shifts over with the young forward Saturday.
"I just want him to see why he was successful in the game," Yeo said. "Success just doesn't happen by accident. It's not a game of chance. It's how you work, how you work to create, especially for a guy like that."
Yeo wants Haula to threaten more with his speed, and not only in open-ice situations, but using his speed to pressure, hound pucks and track back into his own zone. After Haula made a crucial mistake on Edmonton's winning goal Tuesday, Yeo met with him, and the coach liked how Haula regrouped and got focused for the game against the Predators.
Haula, who has seven goals and five assists in 55 games, said it was a "try to learn from your mistake kind of conversation, and any time you make a mistake, you want to redeem yourself. I've just got to keep consistent and try to get to that level because I know where I can play. I showed it last year. I just have to get that consistency of doing it night after night. It's been one of my struggles this year."
The toast of Switzerland
Nino Niederreiter is proud to become the first Swiss player in NHL history to top 20 goals.
"A lot of people have congratulated me back home," Niederreiter said.